


a beautiful fiction

by extasiswings



Category: Timeless (TV 2016)
Genre: Angst, Dreams and Nightmares, F/M, New Reality
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-01
Updated: 2017-03-01
Packaged: 2018-09-27 14:25:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 785
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10024862
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/extasiswings/pseuds/extasiswings
Summary: "Lucy snaps awake, her pulse racing even though she can’t think of a good reason for it to be. Strange dreams…and yet, even as they slip away, she tries to hold onto them. It feels important for some reason, as if she’s forgotten something that she needs to know."





	

_Lucy catches Flynn in her periphery before the hands settle on her shoulders, so she doesn’t jump at the touch. She’s in the middle of a paragraph, but when his thumbs press into the knots in her muscles, her head drops forward on a sigh. “God, that’s nice.”_

_“You’ve been tense for days,” he replies. When his touch sweeps up the sides of her neck, Lucy has to stifle a moan as tension bleeds away. “I thought you could use some help.”_

_“Yeah, well, trying to keep up with everything Rittenhouse is changing isn’t easy. If any of you can convince me that it isn’t necessary, I’ll gladly give up combing through textbooks.”_

_“Well, I don’t think I can convince you of that,” Flynn acknowledges. “But I think I can at least convince you to get some rest.”_

_Lucy closes her eyes and leans back against his chest, biting her lip when his hand drops to her thigh. “Oh?” Her breath hitches when it slips beneath her skirt. “And how were you planning on doing that?”_

_She can feel the smirk on his lips when he kisses her neck. “If you can’t tell, I’m clearly not doing it right.”_

_“Well, maybe you—oh, God.”_

_“You were saying?”_

_“Shut up.”_

* * *

 

 

_“Flynn!” He groans when Lucy falls to her knees next to him, grimaces when she brushes against his dislocated shoulder._

_“You shouldn’t be here. You should have gotten out while you had the chance.”_

_“I wasn’t going to just leave you.”_

_“Lucy—”_

_“Yell at me later. For now, we need a plan.”_

* * *

 

 

_“I love you.” It slips out before Lucy can stop it and she almost winces when she realizes. Flynn goes still next to her, but doesn’t withdraw the arm he has curled around her waist._

_“I mean—I—” She stops herself before she can stammer further. It’s not something that can be clarified or brushed off._

_“Lucy.” His fingers hook under her chin, tipping her face up from where she’s buried it against his chest. His gaze is shadowed, shuttered, unreadable, and she flushes under the intensity of it._

_“Say it again.”_

_Oh. “I—I love you.”_

_Flynn doesn’t say it back, just nods and pulls her tighter against his chest. But it feels like a sea change._

* * *

 

 

_“Lucy.” When he coughs, there’s blood on his teeth. Never a good sign. “You have to get back to the Lifeboat.”_

_Lucy shakes her head furiously. “How many times do I have to tell you I’m not leaving?”_

_“This isn’t like the other times.”_

_She wants to scream. “No,” she snaps. “No, you don’t get to say that. You don’t get to give up like that. Come with me.”_

_Flynn coughs again, even harder, and Lucy swallows back the panic she feels._

_“I did love you, you know. For what it’s worth.”_

_“Garcia—no, don’t close your eyes, don’t—”_

_“Lucy?”_

_“Wyatt! We’re here!”_

* * *

 

 

_“We could bring them back, you know,” Carol says. “Flynn’s family. Isn’t that what he’s been trying to do this whole time? We can give them back to him.”_

_Lucy goes cold. “Why? Why would you do that?”_

_“Don’t look so worried, dear,” her mother replies. “It would just be a favor. Rittenhouse cares about you after all. And, well, you do care about him, don’t you? Love him, even? I would think you’d do anything for him.”_

_Anything...would anything include making a deal with Rittenhouse? It feels wrong, nausea turning her stomach at the thought. Flynn...he’s done a lot of things to bring his family back. He would sacrifice himself, that much she knows, but would he sacrifice her?_

_“Just think about it, dear. But don’t take too long. We won’t wait forever.”_

* * *

 

 

_“—I know everything about you—”_

_“—Rittenhouse—Rittenhouse isn’t a he it’s a they—”_

_“—I really thought we were gonna do great things—”_

_“—I prayed to God for answers and he led me here. To this—”_

_What if he led you to me?_

_“Goodbye, Lucy.”_

 

**_Wake up._ **

 

Lucy snaps awake, her pulse racing even though she can’t think of a good reason for it to be. Strange dreams…and yet, even as they slip away, she tries to hold onto them. It feels important for some reason, as if she’s forgotten something that she needs to know.

 _Who was that man?_ Tall, dark, sad...she doesn’t know him, has never met him, and yet the other side of her bed feels suddenly, unnaturally empty. Lucy doesn’t go back to sleep. She should—her tenure meeting was finally rescheduled and she doesn’t need to be exhausted—but she doesn’t. Instead, she pulls out her phone.

Searching “Rittenhouse” brings up zero results. She’s not sure why that makes her shiver.

**Author's Note:**

> I have absolutely no idea what this is. It was inspired by listening to Blue Caravan by Vienna Teng too many times in a row. The most relevant lines being: "Oh my blue blue caravan/The highway is my great wall/For my true love is a man/Who never existed at all/Oh he was a beautiful fiction/I invented to keep out the cold/But now, my blue blue caravan/I can feel my heart growing cold."
> 
> Did Rittenhouse kill Flynn? Did they just erase him from time entirely? Did they actually bring his family back? Who knows? (Definitely not me)


End file.
